


Sink Of Blood & Crushed Veneer

by forsakenfuckery (diashann)



Category: The Walking Dead
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 01:42:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7555243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diashann/pseuds/forsakenfuckery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She leaves the safety of her safe house to recover; family, friends, and supplies. Sarafina has to gather all of her strength to get over her losses, with her sanity still intact, for the sake of her son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Flashback

"I'm so glad you decided on comin' to Augusta with us," A lanky brunette girl said from the other side of the store, southern twang evident in her voice.

Sarafina Deckhardt stood five foot six in an olive prom dress that was in the process of being altered, her lower-back length hair tied up for the time-being. "We went to school and grew up here, it's not a big deal. Besides, someone needed to wear the dress for you, what with that full leg cast you're wearing."

"Thank fuck we're 'bout the same size," Maggie forced a small laugh, her face turning red from embarrassment as Lydia, Sara's best friend, glanced her way while they both browsed through racks of clothes that people didn't usually look through. They were at Ms. Delaine's thrift shop, it was a place where both Sarafina and Lydia worked in high school. Though they really didn't enjoy the long hours, they always thought it beat working at the bar just across the street. The town drunkards usually found many ways to disturb the peace of their much less wasted co-existing residents. Sarafina glanced down at the old lady who was taking her measurements, she was Ms. Delaine's mother. Cynthia Delaine wasn't much older than Sarafina, now that she thought about it. She herself was only twenty-five, and she was sure Cynthia was in her late-thirties.

Sara looked to her lanky cousin, Maggie Greene. Maggie was smiling and observing all of the steps the older Delaine went through to prepare her dress before she started having light conversation with Lydia, both of them now sitting in the chairs a ways away from the elevated floor Sara was standing on to perfect the accuracy of measurement. She noticed the old woman's hands shaking and wondered if their movement made the old woman as nervous of pricking her as she was of getting pricked. Soon enough, it was all over and time for her to take the dress off, the old woman pre-occupied with re-measuring Maggie to make up for the few extra inches that she needed to lose when re-pinning the dress. Sara felt almost guilty that her child-bearing hips and more shapely bust was causing poor old Mrs. Delaine a headache. "When did they say you'd be all healed up?", Sara asked Maggie from the other side of the dressing room curtain, finally speaking again once the old lady had taken the dress off and left her to the task of putting her own clothes back on.

"Two weeks 'fore prom, they guessed. Dad gave a second opinion and he thinks the doctors are right. I don't understand why he just doesn't become my primary physician, clearly him being a vet doesn't seem to stop him from giving input on such things, anyway," Maggie said, fiddling at the dressing room curtain absent-mindedly.

"What _I don't_ understand is how you can ride those damned creatures." Sarafina couldn't help give a muffled laugh at Lydia's outburst, knowing for a fact that Lydia had been afraid of horses for as long as she'd known her.

"Horses are not that gawd awful," Maggie argued back in a playful tone. "Aye, are you almost done in there?" Sara just stuck her hand out of the curtain and gave a thumbs up, as to say _almost_ , before she lifted her shirt over her head. She threw the curtain aside, eyes narrowed upon seeing Lydia and Maggie wearing cowboy hats on the other side of the threshold. "Seriously? You guys are insane," She brushed past them, only to be pulled back to Lydia's side. "Speaking of insane," Lydia 's eyes were about to bulge from her head and she had no control over the matter. It was decided. That was the only reason for her to be wearing such an expression, Sara was sure of it. "You'll never guess who I saw with your cousin, Sebastian."

Sara gave in to the game after she was sure she couldn't get away with straight-facing her best friend any longer, "Nope. _Who_?"

"Merle Dixon."

Sara gave her with a disbelieving expression before Maggie blurted, " _Who_?"

"His brother went to school with Sara and I, even dated Sara. Merle is much older than us though, around Sebastian's age, actually," Lydia filled Maggie in before receiving a squint toward the hind part of her sentence. "Sebastian is not _that_ old," Sara amended.

"Doesn't really matter much, Maggie never paid attention to our friends, she was so young. And she sure as hell didn't pay any attention to Sebastian's friend's, either. To be quite honest, Daryl wasn't even our friend, he was Charlotte's. They're the same age. You, Lindy, and I were the ones who hung like wet clothes," Lydia's eyes were clouding over with the past and Sara would much rather not talk about any of it. She didn't want to reminisce  _especially_ not about Daryl. "Alright. Alright," She finally said, pulling Lydia out of her glory day fantasies. "Why the hell were you telling me anyhow?"

"Well, Sebastian was taking Denny fishing today, right?" Sarafina gave an impatient nod, desperately wanting to know where this conversation was heading so it could be over and done with. Pretty sure Maggie wasn't paying attention to anything anymore, what with the dazed expression on her face. "Well… when you were in the dressing room, he got back from fishing, I assume. But on his way back to the shop, he ran into Merle and they all walked off somewhere." Sara's eye twitched only slightly and she moved her hand to cover it. "You're shitting me, right?" Maggie looked up upon hearing the tone of Sara's voice before she chimed in, "Well…we're all done here. You guys can feel free to go find 'em. I was plannin' on catching up with some school friends, anyway. Dad said he'd pick me up after, cause I knew I'd want to stay out late."

Lydia gave her best friend a look of excitement as she heard the ending of Maggie's words. " _No,_ " Sara spoke in an irritated tone, " _Absolutely_ not." Lydia frowned and stepped closer to the other woman, hugging her as she gave plea after plea. Maggie could see that was her cue to leave so she left the shop, saying goodbye to the other two, even though they seemed pretty pre-occupied with things as it was. "Why not? C'mon. I know Lindy will be pissed we left her at home when she hears about this, but we have to do this. **One** dummy mission, _please_. When was the last time you even saw Daryl? Before Denny was born? C'mon, I know you're the least bit curious as to what he looks like, who he associates with."

" _No,_ " Sara said again, fighting to get out of Lydia's anaconda death grip.

Lydia released her finally, her arms folding. The gesture was quite ridiculous from Sara's perspective, Lydia looked almost child-like. "What in gawd's name are you doing, Lydia Carson?"

"I'm pouting, cause I'm mad at you," Lydia said, giving a stamp of one of her feet as she turned her head away from Sara. Sara nibbled at the tip of her fingernails before sighing. She was on the verge of giving in _completely_ , she felt it. "Why are you mad at me, Lyd?" Lydia turned her head only slightly so that she could look at Sara through her peripheral, squinting slightly before exhaling deeply, "Well for starters, you're not being a very good parent. Your six year old son could be god knows where with _The Dixon Brothers._ "

" _Sea bass_ is with him," She said pointedly before adding, "You know Sebastian wouldn't let anything happen to Denny, and he sure as hell wouldn't take him somewhere I wouldn't approve of. Plus they're probably just at Daryl's place. Sebastian said something about there being a barbeque. However, he was supposed to bring Denny back, first.." Lydia sighed, as if to surrender on that subject before she was right back to talking again, naming another reason. "Well, then I'm only mad at you because you and I have worked hella hard to get these banging figures- We're almost _thirty_ -and you don't want to show them off to the likes of your _ex_ and _my long time crush_." Sara scrunched her nose, still not believing that her best friend had such poor taste in men. Merle fucking Dixon, _really_? She shook the thought away and then tilted her head to think. "I mean…I could just go get Denny." Lydia lit up within an inch of her life before she started jumping and squealing. "Calm down, woman. I didn't say I'd stay. That's for damn sure." Lydia moved forward and smacked Sara on the ass, grinning harder than she'd done in a long time. "Shut up and show off that body. You've got a damn good body to be somebody's Momma." Sara rolled her eyes, she was used to getting her ass slapped by her best friend. If she had a quarter for every time Lydia smacked her on the ass, she'd be a millionaire. Part of her thinks that Lydia only followed her to Michigan State, after High School, just so the abuse could continue.

The two made their way out of the shop, Sara bidding a good day to Cynthia Delaine's mother as they did. Lydia had been linking arms with her for almost the whole walk to Washington Avenue, where Sara was sure Daryl lived. Lydia let go of her arm and started twirling around, face turned to the pinkish hue of the sky. This was _totally_ typical 'nearly thirty' behavior she thought sarcastically, a smile on her face as she watched her best friend, part of her knowing that once they reached Daryl's house that all of her excitement would fade away and her seducing would begin. Merle Dixon had better start runnin'.

"That's the house?" Lydia asked, skepticism in her eyes as she straight-faced her best friend as she nodded. "How do you _know_?" Lydia asked and Sara just simply turned the other woman's head toward the truck in the driveway, it was Daryl's for sure. Sara remembered the truck a little too well. " _Oh,_ " was all Lydia managed to say at her moment of stupidity. "It's not like I haven't slept over here plenty of times, in the past... aaaand, I can smell barbequed squirrel and deer from where we stand," Sara added pointedly. Lydia only rolled her eyes.

Upon reaching the yard, they continued toward the back yard, where they could hear the low sound of music and obnoxiously loud laughter. At this point, Sara was a bit nervous, she had not signed up for this. She glanced over to check on Lydia as they stalked closer to where the others were sure to be, amazed to find that she was wearing the same look of uncertainty. However, the look on Lydia's face wore away instantly when she heard Merle talking about how _hot_ Sebastian's cousin had been. Sara stopped cold in her tracks and perked up upon then hearing her _name_. "Ew," she spat. Lydia chuckled and Sarafina was shocked that his words hadn't bothered her. As much of a man whore Merle was, it never seemed to fully bother her, she still wanted him. It was really sick. Lydia grabbed hold of Sara's hand and the woman staggered forward, a horrified expression on her face. " _Sea bass_!" Lydia cooed, both of them appearing in the backyard. 

Sebastian swiveled around before anyone else moved, Merle taking attention first, then Daryl, then Karen- a flimsy floozy who worked at the bar O'Toole's across from Cynthia Delaine's shop. Denny was last to notice his Mother and Lydia, his face lighting up as he ran to her. "Mommy!" She tugged away from Lydia harshly, giving her the most unfriendly glare possible before running a hand through her long brown hair. "Hey sweetie," she said when the boy finally reached her. He jumped into her arms and she hugged him and kissed at his head. Sebastian stood and, over Denny's shoulder, Sara gave him a smirk. She walked over to him, the boy still clinging to her for dear life. "Why didn't you tell me you had _plans,_ " She said in a whispered tone, glancing at Merle who sat closest to Sebastian.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

"How often does _this_ happen?" Sara asked, having always wondered why fishing took so long. Merle chuckled just a bit but Sara ignored it long enough that when she found out what he'd been laughing at, she grew more annoyed. She glanced back to see Lydia mocking her. "Lydia. What the hell are you doing?" Lydia shrugged innocently and Sara's face turned red from her slight anger. "Awh hell woman, you dun got her mad now," For a moment after hearing his voice, Sara grew startled, she'd completely forgotten he was there. Her back was turned to him the whole time. Sara placed Denny on the ground and told him to go bother Lydia, who was inching closer to the group of people. Sara turned toward Daryl and gave a faint smile, "Hi Daryl."

Daryl smirked before nodding at her, Karen leaning a little too closely to him afterward. Sara gave a slight chuckle at the discomfort displayed on Daryl's face. Same old Daryl, allergic to public displays of affection. But then it occurred to her, this wasn't the _same_ Daryl, he was more toned, more scraggly, if anything he was the opposite of who he used to be in her eyes. Sure, he was always rude to people, hated PDA, smelled like motor oil, and wore sleeveless shirts- but _now_ , he was a turn off, still attractive as ever, but a turn off as he sat there with a woman he normally wouldn't have associated with and a smug look on his face. He wasn't her Daryl anymore, but then again, she wasn't his Sara anymore either. She chuckled again at how much people can change.

"Somethin' funny?" Karen snarled.

Sara raised an eyebrow at the other woman's tone and ran a hand through her hair. Daryl just paused. "Nah. Just laughing." Clearly Daryl was surprised at Sara's reaction, he was used to that fiery high school girl who used to hit people over the head with a beer bottle whenever they managed to get on her bad side, or say the wrong thing.

"Damn, Karen. I was hopin' someone would smack yer ass up. Guess our old Sarafina Greene is gone, huh, girly?", Merle laughed obnoxiously for a moment, words aimed at Sara.  "Guess so", She said in response to his words. Sebastian sat back down in his foldable chair, he gave Merle a look of annoyance, "It's actually Sarafina _Deckhardt_ now. Too good to be one o'us." She looked down at her cousin, taking the empty lawn chair next to him, which was presumed to have been Karen's since her ass was basically engulfing the armrest of Daryl's lawn chair. "That isn't true," She snapped, slightly surprised when her young son came and sat on her lap. She held him close to her. Lydia was close behind, going and taking a seat on Merle's lap. Merle didn't seem to mind but the whole thing made Sarafina want to lose her lunch. She snapped out of her stupor and focused on what Sebastian was saying to her, trying her hardest to ignore Daryl's hard gaze.

"Is true. You went off to college and forgot all 'bout us. All yer friends. All yer family. Hell, I barely seen Denny since he was born. You gotta beg Chris to bring ya down 'ere. I'm shocked I was even at yer weddin'."

She could tell he was getting absolutely plastered, but one thing was for certain, he always told the truth when he was drunk. And not that flimsy version of the truth that everyone is so used to getting, Sebastian Greene told the _ugly_ truth when he was drunk. "I didn't forget about anyone," Sara fought back, her southern accent not as strong as it should have been. "Don't pull that shit, Sars. Last time you was 'ere, you and Darylina was the best of friends. Then Chris got insecure an' you culn't even talk to 'em no more. All 'cause the two of yers fucked and he's yer ex," Sebastian scoffed, watching first as Sara flinched at the word _fucked_ , then as Daryl gave him a warning glare about the nickname that Merle and Sebastian had given to him, before continuing his drunken rant. "He din't even know you was a Momma. Til right now. He's spent time wit Denny, e'ry time you come down 'ere, but he din't know Denny was yers," Her cousin shook his head at her and it made her feel a twinge of guilt.

He was right, she was forced to stop talking to Daryl and it had been so long that soon she just stopped fighting it, stopped caring. She hadn't talked to Daryl in literally six years, and if Chris knew she was even around him at that moment, he'd be unbelievably pissed. She guessed Chris had a reason for that though, with what happened six Christmas' ago before they had gotten engaged. She cringed just thinking about it, so she shook it from her mind, almost immediately. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, holding her now sleeping son to her chest. Sebastian smirked, perking up a bit at the sound of her voice. "Wassdat?" Sara gritted her teeth for a moment, it was always hard for her to apologize, even if she was at fault. "I said. I'm sorry,"She said more sternly, her eyes on Daryl now.

"Thas more like it. Yer a Greene. We dun't take shit, but mos' of all, we dun't give it," She smirked a bit at his words, mulling them over, wondering just how drunk he was.

Conversation picked up after that, and when Karen passed out from drinking too much, things got much better. It was only eight, and Maggie had texted Sara to inform her that she and some friends were going to a movie and that her father, Sara's uncle Hershel, would pick her up afterward. It was all a bit strange how the Greene's were sort of estranged, yet close all the same. Hershel and his family didn't associate or know the Dixon's or anyone else in Augusta as much as Sara did. It was probably because Sara's father, the youngest of three boys, was a professional major leaguer and everyone in town knew her and her sister, Lindy. Hershel disowned his youngest brother for some reason and they barely spoke. Sara and her family had resided in town and Hershel and his family lived a few miles outside of Augusta, closer to Atlanta. Sara's dad and Sebastian's dad, her uncle Jack who was also Charlotte's dad, remained close and he lived in Augusta too.

Sara shook the thought almost immediately upon hearing Daryl's voice so close to her ear. "You want to go lay him down in my bed?" he asked, referring to Denny, who was still fast asleep. "Uh, sure," she answered, a bit hesitant after finding Lydia to be staring at them. Daryl stood up straighter, chewing on his lip when he said, "C'mon then." He started trudging toward the house and Sara stood careful of her son in her arms before following after him, hearing what sounded like Merle giving her  _ass_ a compliment. She ignored it, of course. Once inside, she looked around, a small smile on her face at the design of it all. Though he'd rearranged some things, the house still suited Daryl. It was isolated to every other house on the street, then on the inside there were heads of mostly everything he'd ever hunted. Sara herself was against animal harm, but Daryl didn't just _kill 'em to kill 'em_. He killed them to eat them and didn't waste one bit of them. "C'mon, you remember the way," he called to her gruffly as she hesitated in the living room, still looking at all his kill. "Sorry," She said, snapping out of it and following after him to the staircase. He led her upstairs and his bedroom was the first on the left, the bedroom across from it seeming to be bone empty as she peaked into it from a distance.

He cleared his throat after a few seconds of waiting on her to come all the way through the doorway. Daryl was new to being patient, the only time he ever really had been was when they were together, which was a long time ago. He had gotten unfamiliar with the whole _patience_ thing when she left. She entered the room and looked around, it was still pretty plain- suited Daryl too, she thought. She carefully laid Denny down in the center of the bed, making sure he wouldn't roll off onto the floor. She looked up at Daryl, catching an expression on his face that she didn't recognize. He looked down at her and then cleared his throat, "He's really…somethin'," Daryl said. She smiled up at Daryl before leaning down again, placing a small kiss on the boy's head. "Thank you," she said.

Her head being hip-level with Daryl, she noticed something. He was blocking from the bedside table, purposely obstructing her view of it. She squinted before standing again. "Daryl." He made a humming noise to make her aware the he'd heard her, as he gazed down at the sleeping child, gnawing on his thumb as he did. "What's _that_?" She pointed around him and he jerked back slightly, knocking whatever it was onto the floor. She couldn't tell if he'd done it on purpose or not, but she leaned down to retrieve the object at the same time as he did, knocking their heads together in the process. "Fuck," Daryl sputtered, falling back onto his butt, sitting on the floor now as he cupped his head in pain. Sara cupped her hand in her head too, but didn't make much noise about the pain. She was more of a _suffer in silence_ type of person. She managed to look at the cracked picture frame, grabbing it up quickly before Daryl could get to it. She gasped lightly, her other hand still cupping her head while one held the frame up. "Is this… _us_?" He sighed, taking it from her, chewing at his lip nervously. "Jus' some stupid thing, dun't know why I even keep it."

Her heart fell and she looked away from him, wishing all of it didn't hurt as much as it did. Fact of the matter was that he still had that picture and that mahogany frame, he still had something of hers, and she still had something of _his_.

 

* * *

* * *

 

 " _Mom,_ " the boy with dirty-blonde colored hair said for about the trillionth time and she shook her head, looking over at the ten year old in the passenger seat for just a moment. "What, Denny?  _What_?" The slightly-tanned boy looked out his window, replaying the catastrophic events before his no longer innocent eyes. He hated seeing nothing but wasteland after wasteland. "Are we there yet?"

She sighed, keeping her eyes fixed on the road, "I told you. We passed it already and no one was there. It was just a bunch of smoke. 'member?" Her voice sounded a bit more panicked than she planned it to. She glanced into her rear view mirror momentarily to see her dad's slugger, sitting up in the backseat, covered in dried up blood . She shivered, thanking god her dad had died long before any of this bullshit. Her father died of pneumonia two years earlier after her last visit to Georgia and her mother was out there somewhere, kicking zombie ass and taking names. She was estranged from her mother after her being so unfaithful to her father, so it didn't matter. Then again, it was mostly her father's fault, being a traveling athlete and all.

She then thought about her poor step-mother, Sylvia, who her father had re-married to when she was sixteen; her sister, Lindy; and her best friend, Lydia. Sylvia and Lindy died right in front of her, being consumed by those damned monsters. Sara had to admit she wasn't so sad to see them gnawing away at her cheating dirt-bag husband, Chris. And Lydia? She'd lost track of Lydia. Though, she was sure she was still out there somewhere, what with their occasional midnight chats on their long range walkie talkies. They had actually planned to meet up, that's why Sara desperately headed toward Augusta, knowing that she could stop and scavenge the nearby prison for supplies. Lydia was supposed to meet her a few miles past the prison, at Delaine's Thrift Shop. Hopefully they both made it that far.

She and Denny were leaving the comfort of her safe house in the woodsy areas of Charlotte to search for the remnants of the Greene family; meet up with Lydia at Delaine's; meet up Sebastian, who was driving their grandmother up from Savannah, at the prison; and meet up with Lotty, who was coming from Montgomery, Alabama, at the prison too. She stayed in contact with them, having hacked her way into what remained of a cell phone company near Myrtle Beach. She and her step-sister Stephanie's husband, Rupert, found a way to link everyone their own Verizon phones and activate them. Sebastian and Charlotte already had the provider so it was easier than one would assume. All Rupert did was gather everyone else in the group their own Verizon's from the abandoned place, programmed them, and then linked everyone's numbers- including Sebastian and Charlotte's which Sara had given to him. It was a piece of cake from then on. He used to work in the I.T. department for the phone company's before the world went to shit, now he was just a really good hacker of anything electronic. Among her group of survivors back at the safe house, there was Stephanie, Rupert, their daughter Isobel, a guy named Carlos, and his little sister Kelly-Rae. 

"Denny. Denny? _AIDEN_." She called to her son who was staring off into space the whole time, still not having answered her question. "Yeah, mom?" He finally said, half-startled. "Now would be a good time to get some sleep. We won't arrive at the prison for another hour and I need you to have some form of energy." He nodded at his mother before turning to face her, instead of the window, getting as comfortable as he possibly could with his seatbelt on. He closed his eyes and she knew immediately that he was sleeping when she heard his heavy breathing. She glanced down at her phone as it started to light up in her cup-holder. She picked it up. "Talk to me, _Sea bass_."


	2. Together

Sara turned around the low shoulder of the road a bit too sharply and woke Denny up, the boy looking around slightly startled before sitting up. "Are we there yet?" She looked over at him, wiping tears from her eyes with one of her hands while the other still gripped the steering wheel. "Mom?" he saw her distress before wiping the sleep from his eyes to be sure he was seeing correctly.

"We're almost there, baby," she said, glancing over at him a bit distracted for a moment. Denny smiled at her before he brought his eyes to the road. "Mom, look out!" The boy screamed and so did Sara, slamming her feet on the brakes as she nearly hit someone. A _living_ , _breathing_ , someone. The car jolted from the sudden stop and in that moment, Sara was lucky she'd always told her son to wear his seatbelt, even if the world had ended. She was certain that he would have flown through the windshield otherwise. She wore her seatbelt too, but her head still made impact against the tip of the steering wheel, a small gash on her forehead, bleeding profusely.

"Are you alright?" She said to her son immediately before hearing a knock at her window. He simply nodded, the fear evident in his eyes as he watched the blood trickling down her face. She turned away from him after giving a small pat of encouragement to his head and then she turned to the window, seeing a stocky black man. She lowered the window just a bit. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying enough attention," She said, about ready to get on her way. The man gave a small smile and accepted her apology, and just then she noticed a few more people coming to the road, from a nearby campfire in the woods that Sara just barely saw. In a way, it made sense that people were there, what with the random line of cars at the side of the road. "Ma'am, you're bleeding pretty bad," The man repeated for the third time, only, it was the first time Sara's heard him, having been too busy staring at the people who started forming in the distance. It had been a healthy amount of people.

"Yeah…", she finally said, moving her hand to touch the blood that was streaming down. The man who established himself as T-Dog asked her to unlock the door, and when she didn't, Denny did. As soon as the door opened, she staggered out, T-Dog helping her over to sit down on the ground. Denny was at her side instantly, after grabbing the slugger from the back seat, watching eagerly as the man got into their car and moved it to line up with the others. "You're damn near on empty, you know that?", She squinted up at T-Dog who was now accompanied by a dark-haired gentleman. "Yeah, I know," She tore a piece of her sleeve and held it to her head to slow the bleeding. It didn't work too well.

Rick sighed before turning to look across the road, back at the others who were gathered together, worried looks on their faces. He looked back down at the two, "What's your names?" Sara looked as if she was going to pass out, so Rick raised his eyebrow at the boy. "I'm Denny, this is my Mom." She finally recovered enough to say, "Sarafina Greene." Glenn, who was coming over to see what had happened, overheard her words, curiosity getting the best of him, "As in Hershel Greene?"

She stood a bit uneasily, heart throbbing at the mention of her uncle who she presumed to be dead, just like her grandmother.

" _She's dead, Sars," his voice said from the other end of the line._

_Sara was so stunned she almost didn't understand, "What?… how?"_

" _She fell asleep in the truck and…she just didn't wake up." She could hear Sebastian's voice crack and she knew instantly that he'd shot her in the head to complete the process. "I'll be at the prison by midnight. Be there," He said after moments of being quiet. She exhaled into the phone, trying to stay strong. "See you then."_

"Yeah, he was my uncle," She chewed at her lip a bit, the woozy feeling being washed away by the rush of adrenaline she felt upon seeing the looks the three men gave to each other. "C'mon," Rick said, wrapping an arm around the woman to help her cross the road, Denny never leaving her side the whole time.

Somewhere between Rick putting his arm around her and finally reaching the other side of the road, Sara closed her eyes. She heard Rick give a slight laugh and she was slightly confused until she heard him speaking. "You'll never believe who we found." She opened her eyes and though her vision was slightly abstract, she heard the excitement of her son as he rushed to someone. "Maggie! Beth! Uncle Hershel!" She heard his cries and immediately fought the need to pass out. She needed to see those familiar faces. More than anything. Someone sat her down, she couldn't really tell who, but soon there was a cold rag at her head, from the sound of pouring she heard, she only assumed the water was from a bottle or a canteen of some sort.

"You look like hell," A female voice said. _Maggie_.

"Wish I could say the same, cousin," Sara smirked dimly. "You would, if yer dumb ass opened yer eyes," Another voice said, and though a few people chuckled, her heart stopped. _That voice_. "Daryl?" She said opening her eyes, water trickling down her face from the rag, filling her with a twinge of pleasure and relief.

"The one and only," He said in a gruff tone.

 

* * *

* * *

 

It had been two hours of people fawning over her and staring at her and Sara still couldn't believe her eyes, trying to stay as perfectly still as she could while Hershel gave her gash some stitches. "So how do you two know each other, _again_?" Maggie asked for the second time, sensing how uncomfortable it made Sara because she would tense up every time someone even mentioned it. Beth gave a muffled laugh. "We went to high school together…sort of."

"Lie," Daryl smirked from across the campfire. Sara waited good and ready until Hershel did the finishing touches on her stitches and moved out of her way to squint at Daryl. "How the hell is that a lie?" She asked in a harsher tone than she'd meant. "I'm eight years older than you, thas' how," She disregarded his words.

"We _dated,_ " He said to Maggie after a moment of silence.

Sara rolled her eyes, only showing a sincere smile when Denny came to sit beside her. She wrapped an arm around him. "Boy, you grew up fast," Daryl said, slightly taken aback.

"Swear I was just thinkin' the same thing," Maggie said, the shock evident in her voice. "I remember when he was just a little tadpole and Sara was freakin' out 'cause she thought there was no way in hell she could raise a kid. I mean, she was only nineteen," Maggie and Beth both laughed, recalling the memory. "Thank god she and Chris got married right away though, otherwise, Uncle Richard would've killed someone." Hershel gave a disapproving look, a small smile on his face soon after. Daryl just looked annoyed at the whole conversation.

Lori smiled a bit, she liked seeing at least some happiness amongst the group, they had been on the side of the road for at least a day, arguing and bickering. They were about to go scavenging for fuel just as the woman and her son showed up. "How old are you, Denny?" She finally asked, hoping that Carl could have someone his own age to play with. The boy looked at his mom before whispering his age. "Wow, you're ten?" He simply nodded.

"I'm sorry," Sara said to Lori. "Denny is a little shy. He's always been like that. Only really talks to people he's known from growing up." Lori nodded, completely understanding, "Don't apologize, it's completely fine. I was just thinking that the boys would like to play some cards in the tent." Denny perked up a bit, "What do you have?!" Everyone laughed at his outburst. "Just a stack of UNO cards," Lori said, handing the deck of cards to Carl. "C'mon!" He said, gesturing for Denny to run after him to the tent, not too far from the adults.

Hershel got an idea about something that the group had been previously discussing, gesturing for Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog to come with him. Rick asked Daryl to stay put because he only needed Glenn and T-Dog, because they were the ones who were going on the dangerous hunt for fuel. "So, he's ten? When's his birthday?" Sara smiled at Lori, it was nice to have someone interested in her son. It was nice to have a fellow mom to talk to. "September sixteenth," She gave a coy smile. "That's nice, a fall baby." Lori's attempt at making small conversation had failed miserably, but Sara was happy she had tried, all the same.

"Hmm…" Maggie said after Lori and Carol walked away to do something else. Sara was in the middle of staring at a half-sleeping Daryl Dixon to take much notice until she felt the hard gaze of both Beth _and_ Maggie upon her. " _Jeesus_ …What?" She said to them, being slightly startled upon turning to face them.

"Denny is a Fall baby," Maggie stated.

Sara rolled her eyes, "Thank you, captain obvi-" Maggie interrupted her again, "You told us you were pregnant in March, you got married, in April. Either Denny is two months premature or you've got some 'splainin' to do." Sara's eyes widened half of a fraction. "You're insane."

"Oh. My. God," Maggie said, coming to the obvious realization. " _Him_? He's the guy from the Christmas party who you had that fling with. The one Chris caught you _kissing_?" Maggie looked in Daryl's direction, not believing that she didn't know this whole time that Daryl Dixon had anything to do with her older cousin. "Please. _Please_. Tell me I'm imagining all of this and that Denny's many years of _not_ looking like Chris are not starting to unravel before my eyes."

Beth sat there, completely stunned. She looked between the two of them, not knowing who was worse with the temptation of men. "Maggie. You're imagining it. Chris was Denny's Dad."

Maggie squinted at the wording, "But did he father him? Did he fertilize one of your _bountiful_ eggs?" Sara looked almost at a loss for words, she felt sick, "Ew. _Really_? Yes. He did. Okay?" Sara stood up before realizing there was nowhere she could go to run away from the conversation. However, her phone vibrated, and she realized how much time she'd lost track of.

"Hey, Sea bass. What's up?"

"I think I just drove past your car, are you okay?" He asked, the concern deep in his voice as she could also hear the _whooshing_ of an open window.

"Oh, yeah, Denny and I are fine, but just loop around to where you saw my car. I sort of broke down. I'm at a campsite with Maggie, Beth, Hershel, And Daryl- with a few _others,_ too." She heard him sigh, she knew Sebastian usually hated a change in plans, but she could hear him revving down the road now. He stopped, lining up with the other cars. He hopped out and made his way deeper into the woods, following the dim light from the camp fire's dying embers, gun in a holster at his side.

"You alri'?" He asked again upon seeing the stitches on her forehead.

"Yeah, Uncle Hershel fixed me up real nice." She examined his blue eyes and his sandy brown hair. He was the dirtiest she'd ever seen him. She exhaled, remembering just how lucky she was to be seeing him and dove straight into his arms, sobs escaping her. Sara didn't even know she'd wanted to cry, but it was happening. Over her head, he smiled faintly at his cousin's Beth and Maggie, trying to assure them that everything would be alright.

He pulled away from her after a moment of holding her, "Where's Denny?" Sara saw the genuine concern in Sebastian's eyes. Every since Denny was born, all Sebastian did was look out for him. Sebastian looked out for Denny, in many ways, better than Chris ever had. She appreciated it, she really did. "He's in that tent over there," She gestured to it, "Playing UNO with another boy around his age." Sebastian glanced at the tent and then nodded in approval. As his eyes were on the path to finding her face again, he paused and smirked.

Sara looked up at his face with slight confusion before she followed the path of his vision. He was looking at Daryl, who was well asleep now, snoring his brains out. She smirked a bit, remembering that Daryl only snored when he was sleeping on his back or when he was really tired. " _Don't_ ," She said, recovering from her memories, turning to see the devilish expression on Sebastian's face. " _Sebastian_."

Before she could even do anything about it, Sebastian was well on his way around the campfire to where Daryl was sitting. She covered her eyes, not really wanting to see how this would play out. Sebastian hoisted himself onto Daryl, straddling him. Sara could hear the groans of a groggy Daryl and instantly she wanted to die. You would think that in the apocalypse, Sebastian would at least lay off of messing with Daryl. If you did, you'd be thinking  _wrong_.

"Get the fuck off me!" Daryl said harshly, even after he became aware of who it was. "Sebastian I will cut yer balls off! Get off uh me!" Daryl squirmed and Sebastian only laughed.

" _Wassdat_?" Sebastian said as he made it virtually impossible for Daryl to move. Beth and Maggie giggled, which only angered Daryl more. Sara was desperately holding in her laughter when Rick, Hershel, Glenn, and T-Dog came to see what the hell was occurring. "What's going on?"

"Just boys being boys, Rick," She burst into laughter, watching Sebastian tremble with his own uncontrollable laughter after finally managing to get Daryl to say the phrase _Darylina wants your sweet lovin'_. It was kind of like Sebastian's own person game of 'Say Uncle'. Daryl shoved Sebastian off of him, muttering something that Sara was sure to be politically incorrect, before getting out of his chair and storming off somewhere, crossbow in hand.

"Look, now you've got him all riled up," Rick said, a small smile on his lips.

Sara didn't think that it was a time to be doing much playing, it was time for serious thinking. The group that had aided her and reunited her with her family were in desperate need of gasoline and a damn good plan. There were so many of them and even Hershel was stunned to see Sebastian, Sara knew it was because traveling in big groups wasn't always the best idea when huge hoards were around. The group apparently had learned that the hard way, what with Beth still mourning the loss of Jimmy who had lived next door to them their whole lives. It was always quite obvious to Sara, as well as to Maggie, that Beth would end up with Jimmy. Obviously God had other plans for Beth's heart, though.

"You gonna go after him?" Sebastian asked, nudging Sara forward.

Sara shook her head and moved out of his reach so he couldn't keep bothering her. "Go on, I'll watch Denny," Sebastian folded his arms, waiting for her to get to walking in the direction Daryl went, it was almost like an old western when men challenged each other to gun duals. Sara sure as hell knew when to stand down, she wasn't about to get into this with her older cousin, not now anyway. "Fine," She muttered, obviously irritated by the turn of events. Sebastian came into the camp, made a mess, now she was left to pick up the pieces of said mess. The mess being Daryl Dixon and his man  _feelings_.

She picked up her father's old slugger and wandered off in the same direction as Daryl. After a few moments of walking, she found herself resting against a tree, trying to catch her breath. She hadn't eaten since that morning and she didn't think the loss of her blood was really helping the case. She couldn't really blame anyone for her lack of eating though. She was a mother, most of the food she had she gave to her son.

"Lookin' for me, huh?" Daryl said, coming up beside her, startling her half to death. After she recovered, she nodded at him, sweat covering her brow and drenching her black tank top. She scraped her Converse against the tree trunk she was perched upon, trying to get a bit of mud off of the bottoms. "I had no choice. Sebastian made me."

"That sounds like somethin' yer dickhead cousin would do," Daryl grunted. Sara laughed lightly, it was a serene sort of laugh, the kind that Daryl missed. She grinned for a moment before bringing up something she'd wanted to since she got to their site. "Speaking of _dickhead_. Where's Merle?" She asked, concern lacing her words. She really hoped she wasn't bringing up a sore subject. Daryl never took kindly to sore subjects.

Daryl scratched at his head for a moment before staring into her eyes. "We got separated…" Though Sara heard the sadness in his voice, she could see it didn't really touch his eyes. She kinked an eyebrow before nodding slowly. "I hope he's alright. Lydia and I got separated too… and Lindy…." She trailed off, knowing the pain showed on her face the moment he stepped closer to comfort her. "I'm sorry," He said, his hands on both of her arms, cross bow around his shoulder.

"It's okay, really. I still have Stephanie. I'd rather have one sibling left than none," The moment she said it, she wished she could take it back. She had seen that she'd hit Daryl _hard_. "Oh… Daryl," He dismissed it automatically, the pain still on his face. He felt awkward just standing there while she was just expressing her feelings so he grabbed her up by the collar and pulled her into a hug. She melted into him, the guilt still ringing through her.

"I missed this," Sara spoke against his chest and it made him smile. He said nothing though so she took that as her cue to just shut up and enjoy the hug that he was risking his life in the middle of the dark woods to give her. She felt that she owed a lot of explanations for most of the past but that could wait until they were safe and they were all together. That's when a light went off in her head. _Together_. She pulled away from Daryl and he raised an eyebrow in concern as he watched her rubbing the tears from her face and out of her eyes. "Wasswrong?" He asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he now watched her fiddling through her pockets for something.

"I have to call Lotty."


End file.
